4 ways to Increase your Faith

Help I’ve lost my faith and I cant find it!

I remember a day when it seems as though God was silent. Nothing I prayed for happened.

Crickets.

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat.<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-24360F" data-link="(F)” style=”box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;”> There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

Mark 4:35-40

Their faith problem was THEIR problem, not Jesus’ problem!

You and I don’t have a faith problem – we just aren’t using what we already have!

So let’s look at the Word to find out how we can get our faith back.

1) Listen to the Word.

Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. Romans 10:17

For as he thinks within himself, so he is…Proverbs 23:7

Listening to negative words, recurring tapes of hurt, death, and other painful things will keep you from standing in faith. I believe that is why Isaiah 43:18 says to forget the former things. Whatever you listen to the most will be what you believe. What do you listen to? Where do you spend your time? It’s virtually impossible (not impossible just really hard) to believe for healing when all you have done is listen to awful doctor’s reports, worldly music, rated R movies because that is what your mind will focus on. You think about what you have put into your mind. To truly allow the faith that God gave you to surface in a crucial time of need, you need to have the WORD deeply planted within you!

Listening to or reading the Word stirs it up in you!

Ask yourself, how much time do you spend listening to the Word now? What could you do to increase it?

2) Fasting and Prayer

And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting. Mark 9:29 (KJV)

If you really study these verses, fasting and prayer deal with unbelief – which opposes faith and makes it ineffectual. We need to fast regularly to make our bodies submit to us rather than always having their way! Think about it: Your body says, “Im tired.” You take a nap. Your body says, “Im sick.” You rest or see the doctor. By the end of day one of a total food fast, your body is screaming, “Help! Feed me or I will die!” Yet, by the end of that 3rd day, you feel like you could never eat again. This is training your body and soul to stop whining and believing every pain that creeps in. It’s denying your flesh so that your faith can flourish!

Give it a try sometime. Here’s one of many ideas for a 3-day fast.

3) Keep your Hope up!

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1

Faith is the substance of things HOPED for! You must have hope! When you get outside of hope, you lose your ability to see!

4) Use your Imagination

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us… Eph. 3:20

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ… 2 Corinthians 10:5

The imagination is a powerful tool. It can work for you or against you! Only one time in scripture is the imagination a GOOD thing. It is here in Ephesians 3:20. He says – He will do more than we can imagine! What are you imagining?! Turn your imagination, the incubator of your hope, into a positive one!

When you are praying for someone, don’t think about all the things that could go wrong. Think on all the things that could go right! Imagine them walking, talking, being completely and wholly healed!

What is ONE thing you can do today to activate the faith God has already given you?

Love,

Sheri